School-to-Work Transition Programs

CBE Partners with CalgaryWorks
Career Pathways Program
CBE partners with Post-Secondaries and the Chamber of Commerce on the Career Show
Centre for Excellence in Home Building and Land Development - Website Launch
Conference Board of Canada – CBE Partnership
ENMAX Centres of Excellence
Logistics Scholarship
Merit Contractors – CBE Partnership

CBE partners with Calgary Works

Calgary Economic Development (CED), in partnership with industry, business, government and the education sector, including the CBE, has launched the Workforce Development Initiative: CalgaryWorks. CalgaryWorks is an innovative, outcome-focused response to increasing labour and skill shortages in the Calgary Region. This initiative is led by Calgary Economic Development in collaboration with business, government, education and community stakeholders

Within a two year period, Calgary Economic Development will develop and complete a series of strategies as part of Phase I of a Workforce Development Initiative in the Calgary Region with the following objectives:

• Deliver new and existing regional workforce information to community members and support human capital attraction efforts to the Calgary Region
• Complete an assessment of labour market trends, occupational projections and shortages for key sectors in the Calgary Economic Region and establish goals, objectives and actions to address each of the shortage areas identified
• Promote sharing of best practices between employers, and capitalize on unique strengths of the region to help build new and expanded partnerships responding to current and future labour and skill shortages

For more information: http://www.calgaryeconomicdevelopment.com/AboutCED/CEDInitiatives/workforceDevelopment.cfm

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Career Pathways Program

The Calgary Board of Education’s Career Pathways program is a growing framework for integrating curriculum coursework, career development and guidance for public school students. Created in collaboration with other school districts, post-secondary institutions, industry, business and the community, the success of the Career Pathways program is based on continued, expanding support and involvement of partners.

Career Pathways provides students with personalized, focused strategies for bridging the gap between school and career. The main focus of Career Pathways is to provide meaningful opportunities relating to the student’s education and potential career options. Career Pathways provides a vehicle for youth to develop a clearer pathway incorporating current educational curriculum, applied academics, career development models, practical skills and work internships to acquire knowledge concerning current and emerging career opportunities.

The program includes an integrated, academic multi-year sequence of courses, career guidance and work-based learning experiences that lets students explore career options. Currently, 10 Career Pathways have been identified: Logistics; Construction–Professional Homebuilders; Health/Bio Medical; Energy/Science and Applied Technology; Information Technology; Arts and Communication; Human Resources; Tourism; Business and Finance; and Recreation/Athletic Excellence.

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CBE partners with Post-Secondaries and the Chamber of Commerce on the Career Show

Parents and others have a significant impact on the career choice of our youth. The array of distinct occupations in Canada has never been greater; government sources indicate some 60,000 occupations. In Alberta, businesses have identified skill shortages in a majority of the occupational clusters monitored by Alberta Human Resources and Employment.

The second annual citywide Career Show for high school students, teachers, parents and the general public will take place at the Calgary Round Up Centre in late October 2006. The Career Show will attempt to address one of Calgary’s most pressing economic needs – career development. The main objective of this event is to connect Albertans concerned with employment opportunities with the knowledge, skills and resources they need to obtain and succeed in the career of their choice. The Career Show brought together a vast array of companies and service providers – more than 120 exhibitors from a broad cross section of industries are expected to be on hand to promote their businesses and sectors.

This dynamic event is a partnership between the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, Alberta Human Resources and Employment, Calgary Economic Development, Bow Valley College, DeVry, Mount Royal College, SAIT, the Calgary Board of Education and the University of Calgary and the various school boards in Calgary and area.

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ENMAX Centres of Excellence

ENMAX is an energy distribution, supply and service company and a wholly owned subsidiary of The City of Calgary. In its commitment to making a positive impact on the environment, ENMAX has taken on a variety of initiatives and projects designed to minimize the impact on the environment.

In March 2004 ENMAX formalized a partnership with the CBE to support an Energy, Science and Applied Technology pathway focused on environmental education to be offered at William Aberhart and Lord Beaverbrook high schools. Since then working groups consisting of teachers, administrators, students, parents from both schools and representatives from ENMAX and Career Pathways have been meeting to tailor the design and delivery of the program for each school.

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Centre for Excellence in Home Building and Land Development - Website Launch

CBE’s partnership with SAIT Polytechnic and the Centre for Excellence in Home Building and Land Development now provides some new tools for our students, staff and schools.

After two years of research and development the Centre for Excellence has completed a new “Toolkit” and website providing the latest information on careers in the professional home building and land development industry.

The Toolkit is a free career information resource kit for Calgary area high schools, employment agencies and youth service groups. The toolkit was produced because youth wanted colourful, clear and precise information about potential careers and they wanted it in a hardcopy format for easy research before going to the Internet for more detailed information.

The Centre’s new website www.homebuilders4tomorrow.com is not only extensive it is one of the most attractive career information websites now on the Internet. The majority of the 400+ images are people and places in Calgary. (The kids said they wanted “real” people!) Teachers will find lesson ideas and detailed skill profiles for each occupation. Training links and a list of recommended CTS modules for each occupation help youth plan out courses for high school and post-secondary. Everybody can also get some real insights into each of the occupations with testimonials from people working in these great careers as well as lifelong career paths.

The Centre estimates that research and development of the Toolkit and website took over 1500 hours of industry volunteer time and an investment of over $500,000 of industry contributions, government and private grants. The industry will continue to invest time and resources to further the Career Pathways Project as well as continue to build individual partnerships with local high schools.

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Logistics Scholarship

The logistics community has been working in partnership with various educational groups to support logistics education and training in the Calgary. In 1999, the Professional Logistics Institute established the Logistics Education Trust Fund to provide scholarships and bursaries to deserving Canadian students. In 2003 the scholarship program was expanded in conjunction with the CBE to include two $250 awards for logistics educational excellence at the high school level.

This commitment has continued for 2006.The awards are given to the male and female students in the CBE logistics programs that achieved the highest levels of academic excellence or best exemplified enthusiasm and commitment to logistics education.

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Merit Contractors –- CBE Partnership

Since 1997, Merit has formed a number of formal and informal partnerships with many stakeholder organizations to promote opportunities in the construction industry. These partnerships include formal Memorandums of Agreement (CNG), explicit partnerships for specific projects/programs (i.e. Trade-Up CD), and other long-term formal and informal partnerships that have evolved over time through collaborative experiences, best practices (i.e. trade/career fair assignments) and cooperative projects with government, education, industry and business organizations and associations.
Merit’s objectives in developing a youth employment program include:
• promoting careers in construction to young people;
• establishing programs and activities to mitigate the pending shortage of skilled workers;
• reversing the trend of low numbers of young people entering the construction trades;
• informing students, parents, teachers, guidance counselors, etc. about opportunities for good jobs and careers in the construction industry;
• provide current, accurate and honest information to stakeholders on construction sector opportunities;
• develop (in partnership arrangements), distribute and deliver information in multiple formats (Building Careers video, Trade-Up CD Rom, brochures, pamphlets, etc.) to stakeholders;
• provide support through job placements with Merit companies for students in Work Experience and RAP;
• deliver 8 to 16 hour credit courses in construction safety under CTR curriculum for high school students;

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Conference Board of Canada – CBE Partnership

The Conference Board of Canada held its Skills and Productivity Forum in Ottawa, May 8 and 9, 2006. The Forum is made up of representatives of the K-12 and post-secondary education systems, the private sector, various levels of government and industry associations.

The core work of The Conference Board’s Skills Solutions Forum is to bring together high-level decision makers, leaders and senior executives from business, government and education to examine strategic issues relating to skills and productivity that affect Canada’s competitiveness.

The Forum offers members an opportunity to take a leadership role in creating a national strategy to boost organizational performance, as well as deepen individual understanding of how skills and skills development fit into the broader picture of national and corporate prosperity and competitiveness.

At the meeting held in May the members in attendance addressed issues such as creating a national skills and productivity action plan; strategic management of skills to improve organizational performance; and building skills capacity through learning and skills development.

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